Wa-UM-eii : How a Choreographer Can Use Sonification to Communicate With Dancers During Rehearsals

• Main Author: Fagergren, Emma
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap 2012
• Subjects: sonification; communication; non-verbal speech acts; coordination; synchronization; dance; dancers; choreographer
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-80219

A sonification is a nonverbal speech act and might sound like “wa-UM-eii”, or “wooosh!” The purpose of this study was to investigate a choreographer’s use of sonification in dance instructions, to see if there are different types of sonifications and if the use of these might differ with a change in context. Video material capturing the rehearsals of a noted dance company was analyzed using a cognitive ethnography-based approach. Nine different types of sonifications were identified and described according to purpose, and a context-based analysis showed that certain kinds of sonifications occurred more frequently in some contexts than others. The results suggest that sonification used in dance instruction can serve multiple different purposes – the three main purposes described here are these: to communicate the quality of a movement, to facilitate communication between choreographer and dancers, and to coordinate the dancers as a group.